Dreaded criminal held, aide shot

A 25-year-old alleged criminal was shot dead while four others, including gangster Manoj Morkheria, were injured in a shootout with the police in Alipur area of Outer Delhi on Wednesday. A senior police official said that the deceased has been identified as Rakesh, an aide of gangster Manoj Morkheria, who was arrested in the shootout. The Delhi police had declared a reward of '1 lakh on the arrest of Morkheria. “We got a tip-off that the accused were travelling in a car. A team asked them to surrender at around 3 pm on NH-1 but they opened fire. The police launched a counter-attack. Manoj Morkheria, Vivek, Praveen were nabbed from the spot while Rinku, their associate, managed to escape. Rakesh, who suffered bullet injuries, was taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital where he succumbed,” said the police official. More than two dozen rounds were fired from both sides. The police recovered two pistols from the spot. The source said that Manoj Morkheria has been involved in more than two dozen cases of kidnapping, extortion, murder and other heinous crimes. “In Haryana, he shot dead a retired police inspector who arrested him once,” said the police official.

*** VAT exemption for many items AGE CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, March 20

With an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections, chief minister Sheila Dikshit did not impose any new tax on Delhiites. Moreover, value added tax (VAT) on many commodities has been curtailed and certain items have been exempted. Ms Dikshit also gifted a VAT rebate for small retailers by raising threshold for registration under VAT from '10 lakhs to '20 lakhs. VAT will be reduced from 12.5 per cent to five per cent on desi ghee and LED lights. She also exempted VAT on pepper spray, flours and salt consumed during fast, pencil and geometry boxes (empty) and goods used in kite-flying. Organic colours, gulal and footwear below '500 have also got exemption.